Former savings exec facing new charges

Published
6:00 pm CST, Wednesday, February 25, 2004

A North Texas grand jury has indicted a former Sunbelt Savings Association executive on accusations of hiding money and lying about his income.

Edwin T. McBirney III, formerly Sunbelt's chairman, was convicted of fraud more than a decade ago. A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday accused McBirney of using a trust to conceal his assets and income, then lying about the money when he reported monthly to the federal probation office.

The 51-year-old businessman was arraigned Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Jeff Kaplan and released on personal recognizance, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Jane Boyle told The Dallas Morning News in Thursday's editions. Formal arraignment was scheduled for March 5 before U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater.

Federal prosecutors sought to recover almost $5 million from McBirney. He is accused of six counts of mail fraud, seven counts of making false statements, seven counts of concealing assets from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a single count of money laundering.

McBirney pleaded guilty in 1990 to federal fraud charges in connection with the collapse of Sunbelt, which lost more than $2 billion during the 1980s. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In the criminal case, he was ordered to pay back $7.5 million to the FDIC, and a judgment in a civil case later increased the obligation to $8.5 million.

His prison sentence was later reduced to five years, but he has so far paid back only a part of the $8.5 million. His plea agreement required him to hand over a portion of his income to repay the obligation, with the percentage increasing as the income increases.

Federal authorities, in the indictment, accuse McBirney of using the trust, known as the Oslin Nation 1993 Trust, to conceal his assets and income by having money paid directly to the trust, and of getting personal expenses paid by the trust.